From: | SCCI - Punta Arenas | To: | SCCI - Punta Arenas | ||
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Start: | 10/27/18 22:09 Z | Finish: | 10/28/18 09:24 Z | ||
Flight Time: | 11.3 hours | ||||
Log Number: | 198006 | PI: | Joseph MacGregor | ||
Funding Source: | Bruce Tagg - NASA - SMD - ESD Airborne Science Program | ||||
Purpose of Flight: | Science | ||||
Comments: | IceBridge successfully completed the first-ever under-flight of the recently launched IceSat-2 satellite. This was a nighttime fight needed to accomplish the high priority sea ice mission Mid-Weddell and obtain satellite validation for low-light conditions. IceSat-2 flew directly over the DC-8 at 4:35am UTC. The ICESat-2 ground track flown and its latency between the IS-2 crossovers is listed as follows: Line: 0451, t=0 hours. The DC-8 flew at 2000 ft on the southbound leg and at 3200 feet on the northbound leg in order to increase swath footprint to capture the IS-2 ground track since there is still some uncertainty to IS-2 pointing. In doing this snow radar had to change its bandwidth to adjust the Nyquist zones in flight to allow for proper data collection. To look at the same sea ice that ICESat-2 would view, on a number of occasions, the DC-8 descended to 500 ft above the sea ice to measure winds and then ATM-Nav adjusted their waypoints based on a sea ice drift code to create slight changes in the flight path. There were a few clouds at the beginning of the line, which caused us to miss roughly 20 minutes of data collection during the mission. The science instruments all worked well. The DC-8 returned with a writeup on the Standby ADI (Attitude Direction Indicator) which will be troubleshot by the DC-8 maintenance team. |
198006 | |
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Flight Hours Approved in SOFRS | 345.8 |
Total Used | 292.8 |
Total Remaining | 53 |
198006 Flight Reports | ||||||
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Date | Flt # | Purpose of Flight | Duration | Running Total | Hours Remaining | Miles Flown |
10/02/18 | 1287 | Check | 2.6 | 2.6 | 343.2 | 0 |
10/08/18 | 1289 | Transit | 10.1 | 12.7 | 333.1 | 0 |
10/08/18 | 1290 | Transit | 2.8 | 15.5 | 330.3 | 0 |
10/10/18 - 10/11/18 | 1291 | Science | 11.5 | 27 | 318.8 | 0 |
10/11/18 - 10/12/18 | 1292 | Science | 11.6 | 38.6 | 307.2 | 0 |
10/12/18 - 10/13/18 | 1293 | Science | 11.3 | 49.9 | 295.9 | 0 |
10/13/18 - 10/14/18 | 1294 | Science | 10.7 | 60.6 | 285.2 | 0 |
10/15/18 - 10/16/18 | 1295 | Science | 11.1 | 71.7 | 274.1 | 0 |
10/16/18 - 10/17/18 | 1296 | Science | 10.1 | 81.8 | 264 | 0 |
10/18/18 - 10/19/18 | 1297 | Science | 11.1 | 92.9 | 252.9 | 0 |
10/19/18 - 10/20/18 | 1298 | Science | 10.8 | 103.7 | 242.1 | 0 |
10/20/18 - 10/21/18 | 1299 | Science | 10.7 | 114.4 | 231.4 | 0 |
10/22/18 - 10/23/18 | 1300 | Science | 11.1 | 125.5 | 220.3 | 0 |
10/27/18 - 10/28/18 | 1301 | Science | 11.3 | 136.8 | 209 | 0 |
10/30/18 - 10/31/18 | 1302 | Science | 11.7 | 148.5 | 197.3 | 0 |
10/31/18 - 11/01/18 | 1303 | Science | 11.3 | 159.8 | 186 | 0 |
11/01/18 | 1304 | Transit | 0.6 | 160.4 | 185.4 | 0 |
11/03/18 - 11/04/18 | 1305 | Science | 11 | 171.4 | 174.4 | 0 |
11/04/18 | 1306 | Science | 10.8 | 182.2 | 163.6 | 0 |
11/05/18 | 1307 | Science | 10.4 | 192.6 | 153.2 | 0 |
11/07/18 | 1308 | Science | 10.4 | 203 | 142.8 | 0 |
11/09/18 - 11/10/18 | 1309 | Science | 11.1 | 214.1 | 131.7 | 0 |
11/10/18 - 11/11/18 | 1310 | Science | 10.6 | 224.7 | 121.1 | 0 |
11/11/18 | 1311 | Science | 10.8 | 235.5 | 110.3 | 0 |
11/12/18 | 1312 | Science | 10.7 | 246.2 | 99.6 | 0 |
11/14/18 - 11/15/18 | 1313 | Science | 11.2 | 257.4 | 88.4 | 0 |
11/15/18 | 1314 | Science | 10.3 | 267.7 | 78.1 | 0 |
11/16/18 - 11/17/18 | 1315 | Science | 10.1 | 277.8 | 68 | 0 |
11/19/18 | 1316 | Transit | 3.4 | 281.2 | 64.6 | 0 |
11/21/18 | 1317 | Transit | 11.6 | 292.8 | 53 | 0 |
Flight Reports began being entered into this system as of 2012 flights. If there were flights flown under an earlier log number the flight reports are not available online.
Mission: Mid-Weddell
Priority: High
Overnight IceBridge successfully completed the high priority sea ice mission Mid-Weddell. This was a momentous and historical mission for us because it required many pieces to fall into place.
All of these things fell into place tonight and we were able to complete this mission without any issues. We also experienced our first OIB mission where IS-2 flew directly over us at 1:35am local time. This wouldn’t have been possible without every person on OIB coming together and working together as a team. As we say: “Team work makes the dream work!”
The ICESat-2 ground track that was flown and its latency between the IS-2 crossovers is listed below:
Line: 0451, t=0 hours
Although this was an overnight flight, forcing everyone on board to stay up throughout the night, spirits and excitement were high due to the IS-2 crossover inflight, as well as the beautiful and multiple sunsets/sunrises and the orange, pink, and blue glow over the sea ice.
OIB flew at 2000 ft on the outbound leg and at 3200 feet on the inbound leg in order to increase our swath footprint to capture the IS-2 ground track since there is still some uncertainty to IS-2 pointing. In doing this snow radar had to change its bandwidth to adjust the Nyquist zones in flight to allow for proper data collection. There were a few clouds at the beginning of the line, which caused us to miss roughly 20 minutes of data collection during the mission.
Outreach: NASA’s Katy Mersmann photographed and took audio during flight for social media outreach. OIB also hosted a professor and 2 students from the Universidad de Magallanes. These students won a competition dealing with the importance of research such as OIB and international collaboration.
Media: Tonight’s mission hosted a variety of media including “La Ventana”, an US embassy funded Antarctic documentary group, as well as Angela Posada, a freelance writer and her photographer.
Outlook: OIB will take the remainder of Sunday off, after landing back in Punta Arenas at 6am, and will take a required hard down day on Monday. Science missions will resume on Tuesday.
List of attached figures: